Douglas barrels

[Salchi Papa]

I’m considering replacement of the barrels on 2 rifles; one is a 1968 Remington 700 270win and the other is a tikka t3 not a t3x in 30.06. I intend to keep the factory barrel lengths of 24 on the rem700 and 22 on the tikka. These are hunting rifles in central PA so I don’t need minute of gnats azz marksmanship but I do want good accuracy which I view as better than an inch at 100yds. I’m there now with both rifles however the tikka barrel is slightly pitted and only shoots 2 of my hand loads decently and the rem700 took a lot of time and effort and resources to find a decent loading that shoots just over an inch @100yds. For hunting these are both adequate but when was adequate ever satisfactory. I’m looking at Douglas barrels #3 contour and I also intend to keep the factory calibers on both. I know the reputation of Douglas barrels but I don’t know anyone locally who has one. I’m intending to send the rifles to them as well to have them fit the barrels to the rifles, there are plenty of gunsmiths around here but the one that was highly recommended to me didn’t do a great job silver soldering a sight back on my pre-64 Winchester 94 so I figured have the guys at Douglas do it since they probably know what they’re doing. What can you guys tell me about the barrels Douglas makes and is it worth sending my rifles to them as well. Thanks

 

[salmonchaser]

I bought one, looks like it had been rifled with a hand held Dremmel tool. Un-F believable. Their simple response was we don’t hand-lap. No shit. Did a full treatment with Tubbs fire lapping which failed to remove the gouges crossing diagonal across the rifling. Where the lands and groves meet looks like a mill bastard file. Should have waited the six months for a Pac Nor or similar barrel. 400 dollars for the barrel about that for the instal on a ruger #1 I would have been way better off just selling the original rifle.

 

[Firebird24]

My 7stw has a Douglass that has been phenomenal. It is over twenty years old now so maybe they were better back in the day-but I would use them again. I would be comfortable with any of the better name brands tho, no real bias

 

[IdahoCTD]

If I wanted a cheap barrel I'd do a Wilson from Ragged Hole Barrels. All of the ones I've used where pretty accurate with one being exceptional. I havent been overly impressed with the Douglas barrels I've used. I'd personally spend a bit more and do a top tier barrel like Brux, Bartlein or Krieger.

 

[RL338]

I'd personally spend a bit more and do a top tier barrel like Brux, Bartlein or Krieger.

Buy once cry once.

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

I have several rifles in various chamberings with Douglas tubes, all are top notch!!

 

[salmonchaser]

I have several rifles in various chamberings with Douglas tubes, all are top notch!!

I must be a lucky bastard!

 

[wvbuckbuster]

I had Douglas to rebarrel a Remington 700 that was a 270 Win and kept the same caliber. Been about three years ago and it has done well for me. I'd use them again. Was good to deal with.

 

[6mm Remington]

My Winchester Model 70 280AI I built has a Shilen match grade stainless barrel. It has been great, but that's the one and only rifle I've ever had this done to so I'm probably not much help.

 

[jimbires]

My Winchester Model 70 280AI I built has a Shilen match grade stainless barrel. It has been great, but that's the one and only rifle I've ever had this done to so I'm probably not much help.

I bought my Grandson a REM 700 chambered in 260 , it has a Shilen " air gauged " barrel on it .I'll say this is the "most consistent " rifle I've ever played with . it shoots everything I've tried . I doubt it has shot anything bigger than 1 1/2 " at 100 yards , right out of the gate . after a little tweaking , most loads go to 1/2 "- 3/4 " at 100 yards , with the bullets I've tried .

 

[RL338]

Yesterday I received my Shilen 224 Wby barrel. After seeing how the 375 performed I went with them on this project. It is nice that they the Alternut prefits for the Vanguards at a reasonable price.

 

[PJGunner]

I have a few custom rifles that have Douglas barrels and they were at my request.There's a .308, 7x57 and 30-06 that all shoot sub MOA although the 06 is fussy about bullet weight. The rifle was built by a friend, the late Cal Albright. You might rememberthe ads in some of the gun rags on the Albright fast fit trapdoor buttplates. Same Mr. Albright I had an old commercial FN Mauser with a bad barrel and he had the Douglas barrel. I put it on my FN, chambered it crowned the barrel and even whipped out a stock for the rifle. Cal was great working with metal and even our local gunsmith would pay him to do a ticklish job. I never could get the rifle to shoot 180 gr. bullets worth spit but 165s will do bug holes. Funny thing is it will give good groups with 220 gr. round nose as well. The real joker in that gun deal deck is he only charged me one dollar to build the rifle. I did say he was a friend.

When I had the 7x57 built, I specified for a Doughlas barrel and it too is sub MOA.

Another is a super lightweight .308. Just too light really but will do an inch off the bench if one concentrates real hard.

One thing that may make a difference is I let my gunsmith order the barrel and install it. He will borescope every barrel he orders and has sent a few back. Maybe that's part of the different reactions aout those barrels.
PJ

 

[NYDAN]

These are the last two 100-yard targets from my 300 WSM with a Douglas barrel. Visually the barrel looked very good.

As PJGunner noted above, this barrel was ordered by my gunsmith. He (my gunsmith) says he has had good luck with Douglas barrels.

 

[salmonchaser]

I am feeling really bad about my Douglas barrel right now. I am stymied.

 

[Idaho53]

I would go with Shilen barrel chambered by Crown Ridge Barrel Works. I have over 12 of these barrels in 700, 783, Bergara, etc. All excellent shooters. Plus, the owner gets the barrels done in 2-3 weeks.

 

[MYNameIsEarl]

Ive been building rifles for 15 years and my Dad before that. We have used Douglas for 25 plus years and in that time had to send one barrel back. I think it was damaged in shipping and had something heavy put on it. It was slightly bent. Other than that every one of them has shot great and none of my customers have been unhappy. Om guessing in my 15 years ive built about 50-60 rifles. Longest I have ever waited on one was 5 weeks, average is week and half to 2 weeks. I experimented with McGowan once for a lightweight budget friendly build. They cost a little less. Horrible lead times, took 3 months. Full of burs took 50 rounds to break it in. Douglas is 20 rounds max usually 10. Accuracy with McGowan was hit and miss so I quit using them for that project. I highly recommend Douglas

 

[grry10]

At the time I acquired my Cooper model 22 in 6.5x284 Cooper was using Wilson barrels, I don't know what they today. But the Wilson barrel on my Cooper will shoot sub-MOA groups all day long. So I would not be afraid to try one. When I was growing up Douglas, Hart, and McGowan were the standards for custom rifles to be built on. Today there are so many good barrel manufacturers of cut and button rifled barrels that I would think you would not last long in business without good quality control and customer service. Shame on any company who lacks either!

 

[Blkram]

I haven't had a rifle with a Douglas barrel to date, so cannot say from personal experience...but as outlined above, I have heard both good and bad stories over the years. One of my shooting friends has a couple of rifles with Douglas barrels, and he is happy with them. Not sure why, but the bad ones seem to be of more recent manufacture. (Different management or owners???) Hopefully Douglas will do something for those unhappy customers, and restore their reputation and product quality.

To date I have had rifles built with King (late, local gunsmith; 250 AI, 300 WSM, 338-06, 376 Steyr, and 416 Taylor), Krieger (338 Federal), Benchmark (6.5 CM), and Wilson (250 Savage, 6.5 PRC, and 338 Federal) barrels, and all are performing well. Sub-MOA. I am currently having another rifle rebarreled with a Benchmark barrel (25 CM), and plan another (257 AII) for next year.

I have also acquired custom and semi-custom rifles with barrels from Shilen (257 Roberts), McGowan (358 Win), and MacLennan (7MM STW) barrels. These are also performing well. Sub-MOA. Of these, I have heard a couple of poor customer services stories regarding McGowan, from others on this forum. Again, hopefully they will also do something for those unhappy customers, and restore their reputation and product quality.

There are plenty of quality gunsmiths out there that can acquire and install your new barrels on your rifles. Do a little research and find one that you are comfortable in getting to do this work for you, that are located in neighbouring towns and states. I'm sure that there are others on this forum who can provide you with great references.
Best of luck in your quest.